Sophisticated Living Indianapolis

MAR-APR 2013

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Te Maras salt mines.
A Paso horse show accompanied
lunch at Wayra Ranch.
lush tropical environs in which we���d found ourselves just a day
earlier. After breakfast we were reunited with Rossio, our guide
in Cusco, for a full day of exploring the Sacred Valley. Our frst
stop was Inca Pisac, an impressive and expansive set of hillside
ruins that encompass military, religious, and agricultural
structures. Clear societal and functional delineations,
evidenced in the layout and styles of architecture, provide a
comprehensive overview of daily Inca life.
Pisac is considered the regional center of artisan silver
jewelry production, and in the colorful, bustling market, Rossio
steered us to the most reputable artisans (should you be so
inclined a two-hour hike leads from the aforementioned ruins
to the market). An abundant al fresco lunch of grilled meats,
empanadas, and the like served family style at Wayra Ranch
was accompanied by the thundering hooves of Paso horses who
���danced��� to the rhythm of ���la merinera���, the national dance of
Peru, in unison under the direction of their Peruvian caballeros.
Te exhibition culminated in a beautiful duet between one of
the riders and a lovely senorita.
A long trip down a dusty dirt road led to the Maras salt ponds,
operated communally by local villagers since pre-Inca times. Te
intricate mosaic of several hundred collecting pools, terrace down
the hillside along with a carefully controlled fow of water from
a nearby natural salty spring. As water evaporates from, the salt
crystals form on the inner surfaces of the pond���s wall and foor.
When water fow is shut of, the pond goes dry, the salt is harvested,
and the process repeats itself. The most amazing spectacle is
observing men of small stature hauling bags of salt weighing in
excess of 100 pounds up the hillside, balancing on pond sidewalls
so narrow I had trouble staying upright unencumbered!
As we headed to the day���s fnal destination, the Moray Incan
Ruins ��� a series of enormous concentric terraced circular depressions,
the largest of which is 98 ft deep, creating a temperature diference
of as much as 27 degrees from top to bottom ��� our driver took a
number of ���shortcuts��� on dirt paths through miniscule towns way
off the tourist grid. Children in school uniforms herding sheep,
sleeping babies wrapped in slings while their mother���s tended to the
felds, and a man with a time worn face taking an afternoon siesta
in the doorway of his adobe home ��� these moments of exploration
provided a memorable glimpse of a robust culture whose daily lives
are so diferent from my own. sl
Sources
Kensington Tours, kensingtontours.com, 888.903.2001; Palacio Nazarenas, palacionazarenas.
com; Hiram Bingham Train, perurail.com; Hotel Sumaq, machupicchuhotels-sumaq.com;
Hotel Rio Sagrado, riosagrado.com; Wayra Ranch, wayrasacredvalley.com
slmag.net
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